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C H A M IN A DE MAGAZI NE
The Spirituality of Justice: Racism & Climate Change The “Catholic response” to racism, climate change and other societal injustices — including those plaguing Hawai'i communities — must be one centered in faith-based action that “ought to discomfit the comfortable, humble the powerful and lift up the oppressed,” said noted author and speaker Fr. Dan Horan during a recent talk at Chaminade’s Mystical Rose Oratory for the Marianist Lecture series. Horan, acknowledging his own status as a “temporary guest” in Hawai'i, added that people in the islands must seek to learn from indigenous communities and understand their unique ways of knowing the world so they can help craft holistic, place-based responses to the greatest crises of our time. The engaging talk on September 26 came as the Marianist Lecture series celebrated 25 years of promoting Catholic responsibility and service, and launched a new honor — the Mackey Award for Catholic
Thought — to recognize leaders advancing the Marianist spirit and educational mission. Horan, a columnist for the National Catholic Reporter whose most recent book is titled A White Catholic’s Guide to Racism and Privilege, was the inaugural recipient of the Mackey Award. In his lecture, Horan unpacked the writings of scholar, social activist and monk Thomas Merton (1915–1968 ). Merton may not be a household name, but in 2015, Pope Francis highlighted him as one of four “representatives of the American people” who fought for equal rights — along with Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln and Dorothy Day. Horan said Merton’s writings from the 1950s and 1960s offer lessons for modern America, including the importance of respecting others. “Merton was attuned in an unusual way for a white man of his
